


Strangers

by myblueworld



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, M/M, Science Experiments, i even dowloaded and read the journal paper, no seriously this one is based on an actual science experiment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-23 20:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13197822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myblueworld/pseuds/myblueworld
Summary: Nico and Will met through a psychological experiment, where they had to ask questions to each other.





	Strangers

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Wildfire](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/349119) by Seafret. 



> 1\. Of all the fics that I have written before, this one is probably the most...bizarre one, in terms of how I found the inspiration for it. This one is basically based on the experiment by Prof. Arthur Aron, which was conducted in 1997. I found out about this study from a lovely music video by Seafret, titled Wildfire (please please PLEASE watch the MV it's just lovely!). In the MV, Seafret recreated his experiment, pairing strangers where each pairing would have to ask each other questions that have been provided. I was so intrigued by it, I actually downloaded the journal article of the original experiment. The questions in this fic were taken from that original experiment (you can find the complete list of questions by googling 'Arthur Aron 36 questions'). Will and Nico's response towards the questions were just my headcanon about them.  
> 2\. A disclaimer, I have never studied psychology formally, so I might have interpreted his experiments incorrectly. All the questions belong to Prof. Aron research group. I tweaked some of how the experiments being conducted, especially in the sequence of the questions.  
> 3\. Special shout out to the Tumblr user afellowslytherindemigod and theeloquentsnake who have encouraged me to post this one and convinced me that I am not overreacting about how lovely the MV is :)

* * *

 

Annabeth placed the two sets of filled questionnaire forms on the table.

“What about this pairing? Study 2 or Study 3?’"

Rachel sipped her coffee while Piper took both sets.

“Study 3,” Rachel said.

“Agreed,” Piper said as she skimmed the answers on the questionnaire sheets.

“Yeah. Besides I think we have enough pairings already for Study 1 and Study 2,” Annabeth said as she hastily scribbled something on her book.

“Oh, this is going to be interesting!” Piper said excitedly as she kept on reading the answers on the questionnaire.

“Piper,” Annabeth called her colleagues without lifting her head up from her notebook. “Please don’t start.”

“What?”

Annabeth sighed and spared her a glance. Piper stared back at her with her best innocent face.

“Please remember that we need to be as objective as possible,” Annabeth said.

Piper sighed and placed the papers back on the table. “Okay,” she said. “ _Objective_. Noted.”

“So, please no fangirling over any kind of interaction no matter how, and I am quoting your words, _cute_ the interaction was.”

“Hey! That was just one time!” Piper said. “And to be fair, I was not the one tabulating the post-interaction questionnaire of that Grace-Jackson pairing.”

“Yeah, I did that one,” Rachel raised her hand up.

Annabeth closed her notebook. "I'm going to send Prof. Brunner the details for our next batch on Study 3,” she said as she stood up from the chair. She walked out of the conference room while the other two watched her from behind.

“Don’t mind her,” Rachel said. “She’s just nervous, waiting about the confirmation of her grant.”

“Yeah,” Piper said, taking another sip of her coffee. She reached out for the questionnaires again. “I know. She had worked on the proposal for weeks.”

“Besides,” Rachel nudged Piper’s shoulder lightly. “The post-interaction questionnaire of the Grace-Jackson pairing clearly showed that they were mutually attracted to each other.”

Piper returned Rachel’s grin. “I know, right? With all due respect to our degrees, someone doesn’t need to have a PhD to see it from their body languages to each other.”

Rachel was grinning as she leaned back in her chair. “I think of all the research that I have been done, this one is the most interesting one.”

“Totally agree with you, Rach,” Piper said, slightly smiling.

 

*******

 

Will nodded at Piper’s explanation.

“So if the time’s up, we don’t have to go through all the questions, right?” Will asked again to make sure that he got it correctly.

“Right. Just please don’t skip any question on each set, and don’t skip any set. Don’t focus on trying to finish all the question in each set within the fifteen minutes you have. Take all the time that you and your partner need to answer each question, even when it means that you won’t be able to finish all questions in a set.”

“Okay,” Will nodded again.

“Our main intention in this study is just to see how well someone follow an instruction when they are being paired with a stranger. I hope that is clear enough?”

“Yeah,” Will said, smiling as he brushed some hair from his forehead. “Got it.”

“Now,” Piper said as she gave Will an assuring smile. “You’re ready?”

“Yeah, I am ready.”

“Great,” Piper said as she stood up. “Now if you can follow me.”

Will stood up and followed her to another room which was on the opposite side of the door where he came in.

“As what has been stated in the consent form, we will be watching from the room next to it through the one-sided mirror. And your conversation will be filmed and recorded,” Piper said, her hand holding the doorknob.

“Okay,” Will said. He took a deep sigh, and let it out in a long exhale. “Let’s do this.”

Piper pulled the door open. Will stepped through the door, entering a room that was all in white. There was a simple wooden table in the middle of the room with two chairs on the opposite sides. On the table, there was some sort of audio set that had some kind of small LCD screen in the middle of it, along with two sets of headphones. Two glasses of water were also on the table. In the middle of the table, Will could see a stack of white envelopes with something scribbled on it with black marker. For a second, Will stood still, just three steps away from the door that now has been closed. But before he started to wonder where his partner was, the door right on the opposite wall creaked open, and a young man stepped into the room.

Will quickly made his way towards the other guy.

“Hello, how are you,” he said, smiling as he stretched his hand out for a handshake. “I’m Will. Nice to meet you.”

The guy took his hand for a quick polite handshake. “Hi. I’m Nico,” he said before he pulled his hand back. He slid his hands into the pocket of his black jeans.

Will gestured with his hands to the table. “Shall we sit?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Nico said, quickly made his way to the chair that was closest to him and sat there.

Will took a seat on the other chair, and looked at Nico. With his dark hair, a black aviator jacket over a black shirt, Nico was a contrast to the room that was all painted in white. Nico crossed his arm over his chest, leaning back against his chair. His face showed almost no expression, other than slightly bored. Will started to wonder whether he himself looked a bit too excited.

“I, uh, this is the first time I’m doing this kind of thing,” Will said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

Nico tilted his head to the left, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“Really? Is this the first time for you to participate in a research?”

Will shook his head. “No. I mean, I’ve been a participant in research for a couple of times. But more for… you know, sensory evaluation of a product, or something related to physiological response. But this is the first time for me to be a participant in a psychological experiment.”

“Oh, okay,” Nico said and nodded. “What makes you do this one, then?”

“My friend Lou Ellen is friends with Rachel, one of the investigator. She told me that the research group was still looking for some participants. I think it’s an interesting research, so I signed up.”

Nico’s response was just another nod.

“How about you?”

“Almost the same like you," Nico shrugged his shoulders. “My best friend Reyna is Annabeth’s partner.”

Will raised his eyebrows. “You mean Dr. Annabeth Chase? The PI?”

“Yup.”

“So you signed up?”

Nico snorted. “No. It was Reyna who made me sign up for this. More like a blackmail.”

“Blackmail?”

“Let’s just say that there are some things that happened in high-school that I’d rather keep as a secret until the end of time.”

Will laughed and for the first time, he could see the vaguest of smirk on Nico’s lips.

“Anyway, should we start now?” Will asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Nico said, crossing his leg over the other one. “Go ahead.” He gestured with his chin to the stack of envelopes.

Will took the first envelope that had the words **_Set #1_** written on it. He opened it and pulled out a set of cards. He placed the cards on the table, and picked up the first one.

He cleared his throat before reading the question on the card.

“Where are you from? Name all of the places you've lived.”

Will looked up from the card to Nico.

“I’m from Italy,” Nico said. “I was born in Venice. My family moved to DC when I was 10 years old. When I was 12 we moved to New Orleans, where I finally met my half-sister. Then we moved again to New York when I was 16.”

Will raised his eyebrows. “Wow. That’s a lot of…moving around.”

Nico only shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly. “How about you?”

“Born and raised in Tennessee, then I got a scholarship for the pre-med program in NYU.”

“Cool,” Nico said.

Will pushed the stack of cards to Nico. “Your turn,” he said.

Nico picked up the card, and read the question there.

 

*******

 

Probably it was because Nico had no expectation about how the experiment would go, but he was slightly surprised that so far, he was mildly enjoying the experiments.

If it wasn’t because of the setting of the room that they were in, it almost didn’t feel like an experiment at all.

Will was an…interesting person. One of the questions in the first set that they were doing was about what gift that they got for their last birthday, and he excitedly told Nico about the card that his 4-year old sister, Kayla, has drawn for him. He even showed pulled up the picture of the card from his phone and showed it to Nico. When Nico told him that his last birthday gift was a limited-edition pack of Mythomagic cards, Will also got excited and asked a couple of questions, because he wanted to buy it as a Christmas gift for his brother, Austin.

It was the beeping sound from the audio set on the table that made them realize that the first fifteen minutes had over. Both of them turn their head to the small screen, that was showing the message ‘ _please continue to the next set of questions_ ’.

“I’ll start,” Nico said, leaning forward to reach out for the next envelope. He opened the envelope and pulled out the stack of cards.

He took the first card and put the others on the table.

He raised his eyebrows when he saw the question.

“Interesting question,” he said, then read it aloud. “Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?”

He placed the card on the table, watching Will’s reaction. Will was looking up at the ceiling, tapping his chin with a contemplative expression.

“I think…maybe…” Will looked back at Nico. “Asclepius.”

Nico blinked. “And he is..?”

Will’s cheeks blushed. “He’s the Greek God of medicine. Well, before he became a god, he’s like… the best healer. At least that’s what the history said. I mean, I thought it would be really interesting to know, about how ancient people healing process worked?”

Nico stared at him as the blush on Will’s cheeks got brighter.

“I’m sorry.” Will cringed. “I sound like a nerd.”

Nico chuckled as he shook his head. “No… No… I mean, it’s nice. You seem to be really interested in this whole medical thing, huh?”

Will cleared his throat. “Yeah. Well. How about you?”

“Anakin Skywalker.”

Will raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“Hey, if you can have a Greek God as a dinner guest, why can’t I have a Jedi Knight for my dinner guest?”

“I mean, why him? Because he also dressed all in black like you?”

Nico snorted. “I think he had an interesting personality.”

Will stared at him with a half-smile. “Fair enough,” he said. “And come to think of it, I think you two can have an interesting conversation.”

Nico slid the remaining cards to Will. “Your turn.”

Will picked up the next card and read the question on it aloud. “Were you ever in a school play? What was your role? What was the plot of the play? Did anything funny ever happen when you were on stage?”

Nico crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against his chair. “Nope,” he shook his head. “In high school, instead of the one being on the stage, I usually the one doing the stuff behind the stage.”

“How about you?” Nico asked, brushing his hair away from his forehead.

“Two times, when I was in high school,” Will said, then he shrugged his shoulders. He schooled his face into a nonchalant expression but the faint blush on his cheeks slightly betrayed it. “And my first time be in a school play is when I realize that I‘m gay.”

Nico raised his eyebrows. A strange but pleasing excitement rushed in his vein.

“Really?” Nico said, leaning forward and placed his crossed arms on the table. “Do tell me about it, please.”

The blush on Will’s cheeks got slightly brighter as he tucked a strand of his wavy hair to the back of his ear.

“So I got the role of Romeo when I was a sophomore in high school,” Will started.

“Ah, Romeo and Juliet, the classic one,” Nico said, a small smirk played on his lips.

“You can never go wrong with a classic play that is basically, the most romantic love story ever written.”

Nico chuckled. “That is debatable. But let’s save the argument about it for another time.”

“Anyway,” Will said and paused to clear his throat. “So I was so nervous about that…final scene, you know? The one where Romeo kissed Juliet?”

“Uh huh,” Nico nodded as he hummed.

“So Cecil, my of my best friends in high school, he told me that I should try to imagine, that instead of kissing Drew, she was the Juliet, I was kissing someone else instead,” Will explained, his hand moving around as he talked. “He said I should imagine that it was not Drew that I was about to kiss, but someone that I did really want to kiss, like, in real life.”

“Oh,” Nico said, cocking his head to the left as he watched Will with an amused smile. “Good strategy.”

“And that, was when I realized that instead of any girl in our school, I imagined that I was kissing Jake, Jake Mason. A senior in my high school. And he was in the play too! As Benvolio!”

Nico laughed and in front of him, Will was positively blushing.

“So yeah,” Will said, running a hand through his hair again. “The story of my gay life.”

Nico’s laughter subsided and remained as a playful smirk on his lips. He leaned just a little closer to Will, like he wanted to tell Will a secret.

“You know what I like the most about your story?”

“What?”

“Knowing that you’re also gay.”

The changes of expression on Will’s face, how his lips morphed from a small shy smile to parted in surprise, and the way his eyes were now widely staring at Nico, it was just priceless.

“Oh?” Was the only word, if that even counted as a word, that Will managed to say.

Then he blinked once before he quickly rubbed the back of his neck.

“I mean, uh... Cool!”

Nico chuckled and leaned back in his chair.

“Yeah,” he said. “What a coincidence, huh?”

And for Nico, it was a really, really nice coincidence.

 

*******

 

Will noticed that somehow, after the revelation that both of them were as straight as a rainbow, Nico became more relaxed. They went through the other questions in the second set in a breeze. Will’s heart clenched to see the nostalgic smile on Nico’s lips as he was telling Will about his childhood in Venice. Something pleasant swirled in his stomach when Nico laughed as he looked at the picture of Will with his costume last Halloween. Will was wearing a bright orange shirt and yellow legging, along with orange fluffy ears and tail, holding a big blue world globe.

 “You want to start the third set?” Nico asked.

“Sure,” Will said and took the envelope. Doing the same thing like they have been doing, he picked up the first card.

He grinned at the question. “Oh, I love this question,” he said and proceeded to read the question aloud. “Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time to say things that you might not say to someone you've just met.”

Will slowly placed the card back on the table. He stared at Nico and for some unknown reasons, he felt nervous and…almost excited at the same time. He folded his arms on the table, waiting for Nico to answer. In front of him, Nico stared back at Will. For a second or two, Nico stayed silent but the look in his eyes was softer as he kept his gaze at Will.

“I think you’re a very kind, caring person,” Nico said. “I like it.”

It’s like Will’s chest was quickly filled with warm, light air as his heart fluttered.

“Really?”

Nico nodded. “You always mention something about someone else in each of your answer. Your siblings, your parents, your friends. Shows how much you think about them.”

Judging from how his cheeks were warmer, Will thought he must be blushing now.

“Thank you,” he said, couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“How about me?” Nico asked. He had his elbow on the table, propping his chin as he leaned slightly forward towards Will. “What do you like about me?” He asked, tilting his head to the left.

“Your eyes,” Will said, making Nico raise his eyebrows.

“My eyes?”

“Your eyes… They tell a story that your lips don’t,” Will said. “It’s like, your eyes hold the secret of you, but it’s also the window to your soul.”

Nico’s lips parted slightly as he stared at Will with his dark eyes. His cheeks were flushed with the color of rose petal, and for a second, Will’s heart skipped a beat.

“Oh,” Nico said, looking away from Will as he chewed his lower lip. But he turned his head back to Will, and whispered a thank you.

There was a small, soft smile on his lips, and Will felt strangely breathless to see it.

 

*******

 

The first set of questions seemed to be more like an ice-breaker, the second set of questions were also quite light. The third set of questions got more personal. After telling what it was that they liked about each other, the questions made them share their view on friendship, what they thought had been their greatest accomplishment so far (getting in to Med School for Will, performing one of the songs that he had written himself in a small gig for Nico), what were things that they had always wanted to do but haven’t done yet (skydiving for Will, going to Alaska to see The Northern Lights for Nico).

Since Will had been the one starting the third set, Nico offered to be the one starting the fourth set of questions. In front of him, with his elbows on the table, Will propped his chin on his fingers that were interlacing together, watching Nico opened he white envelope.

Nico brushed his hair away from covering his eyes when he picked up the first card.

“Wow,” Nico said, eyebrows slightly raised up as his eyes scanned the words on the card. “This one is…deep.”

Will arched a brow, looking curious.

Nico read the question for Will. “If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?”

Will gazed fell down to the wooden surface of the table.

For a while, the room was silent. Nico watched the way Will chewed his lower lip with a contemplative expression.

“I think,” Will said, lifting his gaze up to meet Nico’s eyes. “I think, I want to stop worrying too much about what other people think of me.”

His blue eyes looked a bit fragile now and Nico strangely felt a sudden urge to hold his hand, to tell him that everything would be alright.

Nico has never been a good person with words, unless he wrote it down. That’s why he wrote songs. But somehow those blue eyes in front of him, looking almost vulnerable, they just made Nico’s heart clenched a bit.

“First of all, Will, you are a good person. I know that it might be weird for me to say this since we are practically strangers. But I can feel it, that you are genuinely a good person, Will.”

Will stared at him, looking slightly stunned. He opened his lips like he was about to speak, but Nico already continued.

“And no, you don’t have to worry about what people think of you. You do you, Will. Just keep being you. You just need to be the best version of yourself and to do that, you only have to listen to your heart, not what other people said.”

The changed in Will’s expression was subtle. Vaguely there. But there was a small smile and his eyes shone a bit brighter.

Nico felt strangely breathless. 

*******

It took more time for them to go through the questions in this  set. The questions were the kind of questions that would take some time to think through before you could answer it. Will found it weird, telling a person that he literally just met less than an hour ago about the last time he cried and why. Then again, since for the last 45 minutes, Nico and Will have been exchanging facts about their life through those sets of questions, it’s also weird to think that Nico as a stranger now.

“Okay,” Will said, picking up another card. He read the question on the card aloud. “If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven't you told them yet?”

Will kept his eyes on Nico as he placed the card back to the table. Nico looked away from him. He was staring at the wall but his eyes were gazing at something else. Something far away.

Will watched how Nico’s shoulder slightly trembled, his chest heaving up and down like he was trying to breathe normally. There was a dull pain in Will’s chest to see how Nico looked like he was going through some hard times just because of a question.

After a few seconds of silence, Nico turned his head back. But he fixed his eyes on the table when he spoke.

“I want to tell my father, that I forgive him.”

Nico slowly looked up at Will. His dark eyes looked hollow and it was like a dark shadow casted over his face.

“When my sister and my mother passed away…” Nico paused. He swallowed, then took a deep breath before he continued. “He just…suddenly…became so cold. So far.”

Nico stopped again. Will said nothing. He just kept his eyes at Nico and wished there was something, anything that he could do to ease some of Nico’s pain.

“I was just 10 years old. Bianca and Mamma’s death was already too much. And… he was… he was not helping at all.”

Nico looked away and from the way he blinked rapidly for a couple of times, Will knew he was fighting his tears.

Silence again. For a while, Nico’s heavy breathing was the only sound that felt too loud in the room that felt too bright.

“He tried though,” Nico said, looking down to the floor. “When we were in New Orleans, he…he tried to talk with me again. Not just… talk to me, but talk with me.”

Nico lifted his head up and looked at Will. The look in his eyes was just so delicate, Will had to forcefully hold himself from wrapping Nico with his arms.

“But… I guess…. I was still mad at him. I kept on thinking that he should have done better.” Nico closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out in a long exhale. He opened his eyes back and his voice was more like a whisper when he continued. “Now I started wondering. Maybe I should have done better too. He had tried. And I kept on pushing him away.”

Will leaned forward. “It takes time,” he said.  “And maybe, now is the time.”

“It’s not his fault. Bianca and Mamma’s death. It’s not his fault,” Nico said, voice barely a whisper.

“It’s nobody’s fault.”

“But he acted as if… It was like…” Nico stopped and took another deep breath.

“He apologized, didn’t he? He’s been trying, hasn’t he?”

Nico looked down and it took a few seconds before Nico finally looked up again.

“He did,” Nico said. “He’s been trying to.”

“Do you forgive him now?”

The smile on Nico’s lips was barely there and his lips were trembling. But he nodded.

“I forgive him.” 

*******

Will picked up the last envelope, that had the label **_final assignment_** written neatly on it. The envelope was thinner than the previous ones. Will opened it and found only one card. He pulled the card out.

“Only one instruction here,” he said. He read the instruction on the card aloud.

“Please put on the headphone, tap play, listen to the song while try to maintain eye contact with your partner until the song finished.”

For a second, Will felt like he just missed a step on a ladder. He slowly placed the card on the table and lifted his eyes to meet Nico. Nico only arched an eyebrow, but there was a faint cherry color on his face.

“Okay,” Nico said and reached out for the headphone and put it on. Will did the same thing. Nico folded his arms on the table, staring at Will.

Will cleared his throat.

“Ready?” He asked. Nico nodded as an answer.

Will tap the screen of the audio set, and a song started to play.

Will turned his head from the audio back to Nico as the intro of the song came through the headphone. He didn’t recognize the song, but it has a nice, slow and soft melody. The kind of song that probably would be a perfect companion for a romantic date.

But it was not exactly the song that made Will’s heart dance instead of beating. It was Nico, in front of him, staring at him with his dark eyes. Nico’s eyes were gleaming and he chewed his lower lip, like he was trying to stop himself from smiling. But the corners of his lips were twitching and seeing it made something funny pulled his chest. A rush of heat quickly creeping in and Will glanced away for a second, trying to keep himself together. When he looked back at Nico, a small smile already broke in to Nico’s lips, and the light in his eyes was brighter. Then Will realized that he himself was also kind of smiling. He couldn’t stop a small chuckle slipped out of his mouth as he bashfully covered his face with his left hand. He peeked through his fingers, and Nico’s smile was just slightly wider. Will slowly pulled his hand down from his face, and Nico leaned forward, propping himself on his arms that were folded on the table.

Mirroring Nico, Will folded his arms on the table, leaning just a bit closer towards Nico.

Nico was smiling softly and the look in his eyes was so warm and the flutter inside Will’s chest has now morphed to light warm air and Will just wanted to smile for whatever reason.

The song kept on playing, and they kept on staring at each other’s eyes. 

*******

Nico climbed into his car to go back to his apartment. In his pocket,  Will’s phone number was scribbled on a piece of paper, tucked safely inside of his wallet.

 

*******

It was almost nine in the evening. Nico was laying on the couch in the living room of his apartment. The TV was on, but the sound from it was just some background noises for Nico as he was rereading the texts on his phone.

 

The text message that he sent less than an hour ago, when he knew he should have sent it a long time ago.

The text message that made him feel like a heavy weight has been lifted off his shoulder.

 

 ** _To: Father_**  
8.12: Father  
8.12: I’m coming home for Thanksgiving

 ** _From: Father_**  
8.13: That’s great!  
8.13: It’s been a while since you’re home  
8.15: We miss you, son

 ** _To: Father_**  
8.15: I know  
8.15: It’s been too long  
8.16: I miss you too, Father

 

Finally the word _home_ no longer felt meaningless to him

 

*******

 

Will already turned off the overhead lamp in his bedroom, turning on the small lamp on the nightstand when his phone lit up. Will picked up his phone. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the sender of the text that he just received.

 

 **_From: Nico di Angelo_  
** 11.20: Hello, stranger ;)

 

Will had a small stupid grin on his lips. He didn’t even bother to erase the grin off his face as he typed a reply

 

 ** _To: Nico di Angelo_**  
11.22: You know the tragedy of me and my goldfish  
11.22: And I know all the details of your dogs  
11.23: Do you still think we’re strangers?

 ** _From: Nico di Angelo_**  
11.24: You have a point there  
11.25: But I don’t think we’ve settled the argument  
11.25: About the benefits of artificial Christmas Tree  
11.26: Or about Romeo and Juliet as the biggest cliché ever written

 ** _To: Nico di Angelo_**  
11.27: Real Christmas Tree ftw, of course!  
11.27: And excuse me?  
11.28: How dare you saying that Romeo and Juliet is a cliché??

 ** _From: Nico di Angelo_**  
11: 30: Since we still haven’t reached an agreement on both issues  
11: 31: How about having a respectable discussion about it over coffee?

 

The grin on Will’s lips got wider and something fluttered warmly in his chest when he replied Nico’s texts.

 

 **_To: Nico di Angelo_  
** 11.33: This Friday? At 6?

 ** _From: Nico di Angelo  
_** 11.34: It’s a date

 **_To: Nico di Angelo  
_** 11.35: Sorry, I don’t date strangers.

 **_From: Nico di Angelo_  
** 11.35: Good thing we’re not strangers, then ;)

 

*******

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. The result of the original research was published as a paper titled “The experimental generation of interpersonal closeness: a procedure and some preliminary findings”, which was published in Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, April 1997. The paper of the original research said nothing about the last assignment where they have to listen to something and while maintaining eye contact. But I personally find that that is the cutest part of the MV (if you haven't watched the video please watch it please for the love of everything good in this life). The MV itself said nothing about what it was that the participants had to listen. Probably the song Wildfire by Seafret? Or, my personal recommendation would be an old song from Savage Garden, I Knew I Loved You. Or maybe you have other recommendation?  
> 2\. Comments and feedbacks are always loved :D. Also, I hope you all have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!


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